[duncan_idaho]

I'm one of the most positive Mizzou fans I know, and even I had lost faith in this staff at the start of this year.

I severely underestimated the effect the elevation of Josh Henson would have on the offensive playcalling, design and execution. He has taken it to a much higher level. It helps that his team is healthy, but it's clear to everyone the scheme is better and more effective against teams with similar or superior athletic ability than Yost's was.

He's as big a star as Pinkel thinks he is. Guy is awesome.

I also severely underestimated how good the DEs were going to be. I thought Sam and Ealy would be a solid duo, with Markus Golden potentially busting out as a star in the background. I did not anticipate Sam playing at a first-team All-American level and Ealy playing well enough to make me worry he'd jump to the NFL after this year. Not only does Missouri have the best starting DE tandem in the SEC, it also potentially has the best overall DE (Sam has outperformed Clowney, Drew) and the best depth. Just awesome.

The secondary also has taken some big strides, even from earlier this season.

The complete fall off the cliff recruiting took over the close of 2012 and the start of this year, combined with the nepotic dead weight being carried on the staff (Bruce Walker, Brian Jones, Alex Grinch, even Henson being promoted internally over good external candidates) made for a pretty bleak outlook at the start of the year.

It seems like Grinch and Henson are proving wrong the thoughts that they hold their jobs only because of nepotism. Even Jones has gotten some stuff done on the recruiting trail. I imagine Walker has made another $2 million on the stock market. Not sure what else he has done...